Current consumer demands, regulatory considerations, and dwindling sources of petroleum-based raw materials have created a need for alternative sources of materials as feedstocks for the preparation of polymeric materials.
Various plant based epoxy resins are known such those that are commercially available from Nagase Chemtex (Tokyo, Japan) under the trade designations EX-313, EX-512, and EX-521. Sorbitol polyglycidyl polyether is commercially available from CVC Thermoset Specialties (Moorestown, N.J., USA) under the trade designation ERISYS GE-60.
Various derivatives of bisanhydrohexitols (i.e., derivatives of isosorbide, isomannide, isoidide, or a mixture thereof) are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,608,167 (Hayest et al.) describes the use of bis(2-hydroxyethyl)isosorbide as a monomer in the preparation of various polyesters. U.S. Patent Application Publication 2010/0130759 (Gillet) describes various bisanhydrohexitol derivatives with terminal —CH2NH2 groups that can be used as monomers in the preparation of polyamides. U.S. Pat. No. 7,365,148 (Ono et al.) describes a polycarbonate prepared from bisanhydrohexitol. Isosorbide diglycidyl ethers are described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,272,845 (Zech et al.).